PHILIPPINE fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has completed its $350-million acquisition of American beverage and food retailer Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL), marking it as the company’s largest acquisition to date.

Jollibee on Tuesday, September 24, disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that it has completed all the necessary closing conditions for the deal, including government approvals, provided by the purchase agreement.

CBTL will be the company’s second largest business after Jollibee. It will add 14 percent to Jollibee’s global sales and 26 percent to its total store network. It will also boost the share of Jollibee’s international business to 36 percent of worldwide sales.

According to Jollibee, the CBTL acquisition will enable the company to become an important player in the large, fast-growing, and profitable coffee business.

“[It will] bring JFC closer to its vision to be one of the top 5 restaurant companies in the world in terms of market capitalization,” the company remarked.

CBTL ended August 31 with 1,180 outlets, 336 of which are company-owned while 844 are franchised. Of these, 288 are in the US, 439 in Southeast Asia (Philippines 150, Indonesia 88, Malaysia 100, Singapore 65), 301 in East Asia (South Korea 290), 152 in the Middle East and other parts of Asia (Kuwait 36, Qatar 28, Saudi Arabia 16, Egypt 13, India 25).

In 2018, CBTL booked a net loss of $21.38 million. Jollibee aims to turn its fortunes around in 12 to 18 months.